WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
San Francisco In Oakland we had the sixth and final regional ACORN and Anthropocene Alliance training with about ten people drawn from groups in the Bay Area. In the early afternoon, I always lay out the elements of an ACORN organizing drive in a community, particularly stressing the critical importance of the organizing committee, …
Oakland We’ve always been clear, organizing is an art, not a science. We count everything of course and measure the probabilities closely in order to predict turnout, growth, staff development, and a host of other things, but mostly that is necessary to provide the infrastructure. It doesn’t change the organic nature of the work …
Chicago In the array of workshops, panels, and ballroom presentations there were some about organizing in the South, which has been the holy grail for the future of US unions ever since companies poured into the region to take advantage of cheap labor and abundant resources. Hearing what was on union activists’ minds made …